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Hi, Now that I am here I have a curiosity question. Those who knew from the times before 2018 back to >2008 when I still had my Losmandy G11-RS, know that I like to tinker, and improve?? (maybe make things worse :-0 ), everything I have. I have two mounts, big mounts with 52kg capacity(counterweights not included), with stepper motors and encoder discs (big glass discs glued on the worm gear) on the RA and DEC axis Worm gear with 360 teeth and 216mm ?. According to the producer the resolution of the encoder is 0.035" (arcseconds). Is it possible to use Gemini 2 with Stepper motors and the encoder discs? Rainer NHSA Observatory Mexico (in order to not create confusion) :-)
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Greetings everyone! Apologies if this has been discussed already (I did a quick but not exhaustive search through past posts), but I am looking for suggestions for a good entry level autoguiding system to go along with our G11 mount and Gemini II system. Autoguiding is something I’m completely new to, so I’m looking for something simple to set up and learn to use, and any advice or guidance would be appreciated. The ioptron iguider is one I’ve been looking at. We have an ioptron polar scope and I love it, so theirs was one of the first I’ve checked out. Thanks in advance! Jeremy Benson Keeper of Keys and Labs NIU Department of Physics NASA Solar System Ambassador La Tourette 202A 815.753.1953 www.niu.edu/clas/physics From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Paul Kanevsky via groups.io Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2025 1:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Gemini-II_io] Starlight Xpress AO Connections On Sun, Mar 23, 2025 at 11:31 AM, Rick Scott wrote: I have the original large Losmandy Gemini 2 controller and have been using the Ethernat port for pulse guiding with PHD2. I’m adding Starlight Xpress AO unit to my system and need to know which Gemini port to use for the bump command from the AO and how to set it up. Thanks in advance, Rick Hi Rick, I think that will depend on the software you use to control the autoguider. I see that SX AO unit has an autoguider output, so I assume the native SX software can use that port to bump the mount. You'll then want to connect the RJ11 port on the AO to the Autoguider input on Gemini-2 and calibrate it using SX software. Alternatively, if you use some other software that can control SX AO and that supports ASCOM telescope interface for guiding, then you can use the Ethernet port to bump using theASCOM pulse guiding commands, just like you do today with PHD2. Regards, -Paul
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Gemini BOOTLOADER update available
13
Hi Folks, René, as usual, has been busy with Gemini improvements. The new Bootloader is an update to the original one that was created when 2GB SD cards were all that was available :) The new bootloader isn't required if your Gemini is working fine. You can skip it if you don't care about the benefits listed below, or if you feel uncomfortable performing the update. The update process itself is about as complicated as the L6 upgrade to the new servo firmware, and requires: A 20 pin ULINK2 emulator/programmer -- about $30 from Amazon Keil ULink-2 software (runs on Windows) MB_BL_2024.uvproj bootloader project file Detailed Instructions can be found here: /g/Gemini-II/files/Latest%20Firmware%20Files/Bootloader%20Update%20Instructions%20-%20April%202025/Gemini%20Bootloader%20Installation%20Instructions%20-%20Apr%202025.pdf The new bootloader is based on a modern version of Keil middleware and helps with the following: Faster boot-up time for Gemini Better compatibility with different types and larger size SD cards Resolves the issue with the dreaded M:Curr_Gem.bin file for those who have experienced it Be careful if you decide to update your Gemini. Follow instructions! Regards, -Paul
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Level 6.1 , HC 1.63/ Changelog
12
Greetings, folks! After what felt like an eternity of clouded skies, we finally had a night of clear skies here in germany. I was pumped to finally test the new firmware. So, with full enthusiasm, a few buddies and I trekked out to the field, set up our gear -myself the G11 with Gemini2 and all that jazz- and i started the alignment process. And then... disaster. The G11 decided to slew in completely the wrong direction. I checked the GPS coordinates and time, like a good little astronomer. Nope, still wrong. G11 was off doing its own thing. I double-checked all settings, including ASCOM. Restarted. Nada. G11 was still moonwalking in the wrong direction. By this point, my friends were already having a blast while I was having a personal meltdown,. In the end, I threw in the towel for the night. Next day, I decided to calm down and take a look at everything at home. In the changelog of HC v1.63, there it was something about: "Checkbox to invert the direction of gearboxes in Mount->Gearing (for McLennan gearboxes, for example)." Found the checkboxes in the HC... but why on Earth were these two checkboxes already ticked ... by default!? Guys, I spent one full night out there, and it turns out that two tiny little checkboxes that had me chasing my tail. Classic. Honestly, those checkboxes should really be left unchecked by default so no one else ends up barking up the wrong tree for an entire night over something so tiny. ;-) cheers /Rainer
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Gemini 2 with stellarmate PRO
2
I am away on work in Carlsbad NM and intend to bring back my setup next time I go home. I also bought a stellarmate pro controller. I actually like the interface/app. So what I have done was brought just the Gemini 2 v6 with me by itself. I go to power it up. When do, I hear an occasional clicking sound coming from it. It's a 15v center positive supply. Should I be concerned or is that normal? Thanks!
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Well, bust my buttons....
After a computer reset, regaining everything is a PITA. So, one of the last things has been getting my GM811G to slew to park at the end of a NINA session. I know Paul has helped me with this before. But this time I figured it out in the virtual hand control by going to the Park>Configure Park Position>Slew to CWD before parking. A rather DUH moment, but for once I figured it out without asking. (It defaults to No slew before parking. Why do I care?) I have a little WiFi camera on the back fence I use with my cell phone to monitor the mount during the night. If it's parked, I know it completed. If it isn't parked, I don't know if it completed. I need to get 7 hours on my CPAP every night. So remote operation is a benefit to me. Thanks again Paul for the past help! -- Sonny Edmonds GM811G HD
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I don't understand why Losmandy disabled the port for the axis encoders
15
I don't understand why Losmandy disabled the port for the axis encoders on the Gemini II. It was present on the Gemini I, so Losmandy wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel. The reason: There would be so few users who would use encoders, a really great reason. If I understand correctly, you can connect the Nexus devices in parallel and use the encoders. I control the mount via Cartes de Ciel, i.e., via Ascom? The Nexus devices are also capable of being controlled via Ascom, so will the parallel installation work? Regards, Edwin
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Hello, So let's say I've set up the mount correctly re polar alignment and modeling and the pointing accuracy is good. I select a target from the database and it takes me there. After observing the target I decide to wander around the neighborhood of the target slewing here and there, does the Gemini stay with me and not lose modeling/pointing accuracy if I return to the database for a new target? Will it know where it is after I slew away from the target? Thanks in advance.
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First Time Set-up and Use
10
Hi Folks, My name is Kevin, and this is my first time posting to the Group. I took delivery of the Retro-fit kit for my G-ll on Monday and am planning on doing the basic set-up before installation onto my mount. I've been watching all the tutorials on Gemini that Brian has posted to You-tube, and am slowly wrapping my head around it. My goal is for visual at this time, but I'll be doing some imaging later. I've found through watching the vids that it is pretty straight forward with Lat/Lon, but when entering the time I have a question about Daylight Savings Time(pita). I am in the EST zone so my off set is -5, but we are in DST so the offset is -4, right? Also, when in the Fall, do I have to do a Cold Start and change the offset back to -5 again? Basically, I'm just asking for clarification that my thinking about the offset is correct and setting it for DST is correct? Everytime the time changes I will have to change the offset. BTW, any tips you might have for installing the hardware, or first time start-up and use are appreciated. Thanks, Kevin
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I woke up to my telescope as shown in this picture. Somewhere around 11PM the mount disconnected - second time this has happened recently. But what troubles me is that the mount continues to track and ignores the safety limit. Shouldn't it stop tracking if it reaches the limit? This is an ethernet connected mount, and it's worked fine except for the occasional disconnect like this. Luckily I don't think it hit the pier (this time). Any idea why this is happening?
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Hi folks, An updated version of Gemini firmware L6.12 is now available. This fixes the reported issue where PEC, once programmed, can't be turned off and must be cleared to disable. Update your Gemini using the usual methods: in GFU select L6.12 and click Start to update, or download and copy the files to the SD card from here: /g/Gemini-II/files/Latest%20Firmware%20Files/Gemini%20Firmware%20L6.12 When flashed, the version should read: Note that the HC firmware version didn't change, and remains at v1.64. Regards, -Paul
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Good morning, Just came across something this AM and curious if anyone else can replicate: Gemini2: 6.11 ASCOM: 7.0 When I deselect the PEC container while PEMPro is connected, it immediately reselects. I've tried: Deselecting PEC on Configure PEC page (turning off PEC playback) Deselecting PEC on main Hand Controller window Deselecting PEC on Advanced Settings Page. I noticed this originally when I was trying to record a few cycles this morning before sunrise with PEMPro and the PEC OFF command didn't work. But I tried it with and without PEMPro open and the status of PEMPro did not matter (open or closed) so PEMPro does not seem to be causal. I tried a cold start from the desktop hand controller and a power recycle with the power switch on the Gemini 2, reattempting all three of the above options after the cold start and power recycle. No change. I've attached a log file Here in the Files Section Can anyone else replicate? or is it just a matter of ghosts in my machine? My mount does seem slow to connect and lately fails the first attempt from NINA and then works on the second try. I'm using a direct connection with a crossover cable and a USB-Ethernet dongle. If no one else can replicate, then I will start troubleshooting connections. Thanks Ryan
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I have a new G11/Gemini-2 that I bought last summer. I've set up a Home park location of due west, and park it when I'm done each evening. I've noticed that if I leave it unpowered for more than a couple of days, when I turn it back on and do a warm restart, Gemini reports that it is pointing East, not West. I thought this might be that the battery in Gemini was low (although I had just bought it), so I bought and installed a fresh one recently. However the problem is still happening. After power up and warm restart, with scope physically pointing west, it reports that it is pointing east: If I then tell it to a Park CWD (when it is parked at the Home position pointing west), it actually moves to the correct location at the pole, but as the mount is physically slewing from West to North, it reports that it is slewing from East to North: Even if I tell it to park at my Home location (which I defined as west), the mount will physically move to point west, but reporting that it is moving east. However, if I tell it to slew to some target that is up in the sky from the Home location, it starts to slew the telescope down into the ground. So although it knows where CWD and Home are physically, its coordinates are treated differently. From the CWD position, I turn off the power to Gemini and then do a cold boot, and everything is fine for a few days. The position it reports matches the way the telescope is pointing. If I tell it to slew to a target, the target is usually in my guide scope even before I build an alignment model. Scope again parked at Home position (west) (after cold boot at CWD fixed the problem): FYI, this is my second Gemini unit. I have a G11/Gemini-1 that is 20 years old so I'm familiar with settings like date/time, mount type, etc. This is just my first experience with a Gemini-2. I know that Gemini-1 can act strangely when its battery gets low, so I wasn't especially worried about my new Gemini-2 until I replaced its battery and see it continuing to have the same problem intermittently. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, -Joe
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Starlight Xpress AO Connections
5
I have the original large Losmandy Gemini 2 controller and have been using the Ethernat port for pulse guiding with PHD2. I’m adding Starlight Xpress AO unit to my system and need to know which Gemini port to use for the bump command from the AO and how to set it up. Thanks in advance, Rick
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Hello all, After performing a recent firmware update on a Gemini II mini-controller on a GM811 (received new from Losmandy in early 2022), I noticed that the Hand Controller is displaying February 29th in the lower right corner, regardless of the actual date. With my time zone offset (-7) this only occurs between the civil hours of 17:00:00 to 23:59:59 for any date in February and the year is 2025 or three year increments thereof (i.e. 2028, 2031, etc.). If the HC's 'Menu / Time' screen -and/or- the web page 'Time' are displayed while the incorrect date is shown, the date setting boxes show the correct date! With other time zones, the abnormality start time changes accordingly but the end time remains the same. In addition, the initial GOTO pointing accuracy after a 'CWD / Cold Start' is within the expected error even with the Feb. 29th date being shown. Hopefully this can be duplicated, and is not an isolated issue with my controllers. To confirm this - on the HC set the time zone offset to any valid negative value (AFAIK the problem does not appear with positive offsets), set the civil date to any day in February with a year as mentioned above, and set the civil time to (23:59:50 + time zone) and hit 'Set' at the bottom of the screen. After the display returns to the Home Screen, watch the date in the lower right corner jump from the set one to Feb.29th when the time rolls over to the next whole hour. If the year is set to anything other than mentioned, the date remains correct. It appears that the UTC 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 roll over triggers the Feb.29th date, and the civil 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 roll over corrects it. I have used GFU V1.0.0.32 to reload both the mainboard and HC firmware several times. The current firmware shown on the HC 'Menu / HC / Info' is : Mainboard - Level 6.10, Built Nov.5, 2024 HC - V1.63, Build Oct.14, 2024 RA / DEC Servo - V3.0 (Dumb question : why does one say 'Built' and the other say 'Build'?) I have performed the 'Reset HGM Defaults' and 'SRAM Reset' then reload from file, and have cleaned the contacts and reseated both micro SD cards, all without any improvement. By the way the micro SD cards are from Losmandy as part of their 'Level 6 Upgrade Kit' that I purchased last summer. The backup battery voltage is 3.01V, with the main battery reporting 14.98V. Other than what appears to be a 'cosmetic abnormality / annoyance', this mount and controllers perform flawlessly! I know it's late in February 2025, but I didn't want to get caught off guard in February 2028.... Clear skies, Ed
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[this has been solved] see my answer three messages below The issue resulted in several causes I guess data corruption, possibly due to a low lithium battery voltage due to cold conditions ==> batttery replaced bad contacts condition at HC SD card level, this being solved by reseating the SD card. Hello Some trouble here I have tried to upgrade to latest version available directly from GFU (6.11) I have used GFU to upload and flash I connect to the gemini web server the main unit reports a correct version (6.11) the HC section doesnt report any information but the HC itself keep booting on the older version which is 1.6 Any idea on how to tackle the problem ? Thank you in advance
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I started to veer to this topic on another thread and did not want to hijack that other thread. I sure would like to use the GFU Utility to its fullest capacity, but I keep running into a persistent problem with a file on my SD card which prevents the GFU from completing its tasks. When updating firmware, mine "times out" at the "Flash Firmware" and "Reboot" step every time I try to update the firmware. From past messages, I think the issue is with this M:Cur_Gem2.bin file that I can only clear out by formatting the SD card, loading the files, then renaming the NewGem.bin file to HGM_Gem2.bin. There is more to it than that but that is the short version. I have figured out a method to do these firmware updates that's a little clunky but does work. From the other thread, Paul K stated: That M:... does prevent any firmware updates using GFU since it prevents access to the folder using FTP. The only way to get rid of this file is to format the SD card and copy the files over again. In a nutshell for firmware updates, I first do the "Format" command from the GFU then upload all the files to the card using the GFU. I then remove the SD card from Gemini MU and install in a reader. There is no M: file that I can see on that card only the NewGem.bin (but the GFU still times out on "Flash Firmware" and "Reboot"). I then rename NewGem.bin to HGM_Gem2.bin and reinstall in the MU. Upon power up, the firmware updates and then the M: file reappears. Question-is that what is supposed to happen (M: file created)? If not, what is supposed to happen? And how to not create that M: file if that is the problem? Attached is what my SD card looks like after the update to L6.11/HC v1.64 (or any update). Can somebody post a screen shot of their SD card webpage if mine doesn't look right? If somebody can help, great! If not, not a big deal as I can still update the firmware (at this time). No issues with the actual operation of Gemini.
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Hey everyone, So I have firmware version 5.21 and version 1.20 in the hand controller. I am attempting to use GFU version 1.0.0.32 to get it to the latest version of Gemini 2. When I click the start button, I get the following error: I can connect to the gemini web server using the 192.168.8.220 address. Also, my ASIAir can connect to the Gemini wirelessly. I disconnected the ASIAir just in case it would cause an issue (don't know why it would since Gemini uses FTP). I confirmed that I can connect to the Gemini-2 via FTP as well. I am using the latest version of Windows 10. Any assistance is welcome. I wanted to use the GFU utility for safety :) Thanks!! Jason
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Hi folks, New Gemini firmware is available to address issues reported by users. L6.11 and HC v1.64 can be installed using GFU (make sure you have internet connection when running GFU so it can download the latest). Fixes in this release: HC: Fix for the leap year display on main screen MU: Reset RA/DEC reversal settings on Gemini reset (SRAM reset required) MU: Keep PEC enabled after changing tracking rate MU: Ensure Centering speed is used when pressing HC buttons past the safety limit If you are not using Windows or prefer not to use GFU, the updated files are also available for download: /g/Gemini-II/files/Latest%20Firmware%20Files/Gemini%20Firmware%20L6.11%20and%20HC%20v1.64 After the update, your Gemini should report the following versions: Regards, -Paul
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Current GEMPro Status?
11
Is this still being developed? What's the current status? ----------------------- Jim W Phoenix, AZ USA
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am